In Australia in 1976, a young girl named Mary, an isolated and lonely girl, is looking for a friend.
She lives with her parents, but her mother is a chain-smoking drunk and a thief, and her father, who works in a factory putting threads in tea bags, prefers to spend his time with his collection of dead birds.
Mary remains curious about life and finds the address of an American living in New York.
She writes him a letter to become his pen pal.
The recipient is, a severely overweight Jewish hypochondriac with Asperger's Syndrome knowing painfully well that he feels the world in a radically different way than most.
A film that deals honestly and powerfully with that condition. Isolated and lonely.
Feeling isolated in the world and yet having an unlikely friend in a pen pal you've never met, just knowing they are out there and hearing from them as you move through life: the connection is meaningful and beautiful.
You have to watch the movie and let it all play out as it happens through the exchange between the two of them.
Dr. Bernard said: I must accept myself, shortcomings and all. We cannot choose our shortcomings, they are also part of us, and we must adapt to them. However, we can choose our friends and I am very happy to choose you.
